Unlikely accused killer: Ex-teacher, 67

Michael Dougan, OF THE EXAMINER STAFF

Published 4:00 am, Tuesday, June 13, 1995

1995-06-13 04:00:00 PDT MILL VALLEY -- SAN RAFAEL - Despite her loose blue jail togs, Phyllis Yvonne Robbins looked more like the retired art teacher she is than an accused killer as she stood to be arraigned on murder charges in a Marin County courtroom.

Her graying brown hair was close-cropped and curled, she wore glasses, and her lips were tight and grim.

At 67, Robbins faces a possible 31 years to life behind prison walls.

Robbins - who taught jewelry-making in Sacramento schools for more than four decades - was arrested Friday in the killing of 71-year-old Barbara "Bobby" Wilson in what police believe was a jealous rage. She pleaded not guilty Monday.

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Wilson's badly beaten body was discovered June 5 following a mysterious 911 phone call that led paramedics to the victim's Mill Valley home. They found Wilson dead on the kitchen floor, the back of her head broken open by blows from a blunt object, authorities said.

Detectives traced the 911 call to a pay phone at Tam Junction just south of the Mill Valley city limits. The woman who used that phone claimed to have been suffering a heart attack and gave Wilson's address as her own.

Party before killing&lt;

Robbins had been living in a mobile home in Napa owned by Maureen Zwemke, Wilson's longtime friend and former companion, said sheriff's Lt. Richard Laden. The day before the killing, Robbins, Zwemke and several others attended a dinner party at Wilson's house.

Investigators visited Robbins and Zwemke in Napa the day after Wilson was killed. "We noticed that there were a number of injuries on (Robbins') person," Laden said.

"And the detectives couldn't confirm her alibi for the morning of the murder."

In subsequent interrogations, Robbins admitted "that she did in fact make the 911 call and disclosed to us that she was at the murder scene," Laden said. He said statements Robbins made regarding "what she did at the murder scene" and pieces of physical evidence had led to her arrest.

Laden would not say whether Robbins' statements included a confession.

Zwemke and Wilson lived together in Mill Valley for 15 years before separating two years ago. Friends said Monday that they had been on the verge of resuming their relationship. But they said the women had not behaved in a manner that might have provoked Robbins' jealousy at the dinner party the night before the killing.

"There was nothing of that nature," said one of the guests, Revis White, 69. "No one saw anything like that at the party."

Playing golf in Fairfield&lt;

Yet police say Robbins awoke the following morning at Zwemke's home in Napa and drove back to Mill Valley, where she allegedly killed Wilson. Zwemke had earlier left their mobile home to play golf in Fairfield.

Zwemke declined to discuss the charges against Robbins. Zwemke said, "There's nothing I can do about it now."

Friends of both the victim and her accused killer use almost identical language to describe each one.

"She was always hauling people around, baking banana bread and cookies and passing those out."

White depicted Wilson as "a very caring, giving person who was always doing something for other people . . . always first in line to help somebody out."

Patricia Peterson, who has known Robbins since the third grade, said the accused murderer was "a wonderful person; she's got a lot of friends that I think will do anything for her."

Peterson was part of a small group from Lake County and San Jose who watched Robbins' arraignment in a state of deep concern.

"She hasn't got a mean bone in her body," said one, Bette Soule.&lt;

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